USC’s Matt Kalil wins Pac-12’s award as top offensive lineman

USC junior offensive tackle Matt Kalil won the Pac-12 Conference’s Morris Trophy, presented annually to the league’s top offensive and defensive lineman.

Utah’s Star Lotulelei was honored as the top defensive lineman.

Starting offensive linemen in the conference vote for the defensive winner and starting defensive linemen vote for the offensive winner.

Kalil is the third USC lineman in as many years to win the award. Charles Brown, who plays for the New Orleans Saints, won in 2009. Tyron Smith, who was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft, won last year.

Kalil, projected as a possible top-10 draft pick, is weighing whether to turn pro or return to USC for a final college season.

Former USC center Roy Foster, who won in 1980 and 1981, and Trojans defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, who won in 2006 and 2007, were two-time winners.

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Kalil and safety T.J. McDonald were selected to Pro Football Weekly’s All-America team, and Kalil and receiver Robert Woods were selected to Yahoo! Sports’ All-America team.

McDonald’s father, Tim, was a two-time All-American for the Trojans in 1985 and 1986, making the McDonalds the first father-son All-America duo in school history.

Kalil’s brother, Ryan, was a 2006 All-American. They join Mike and Marlin McKeever and Bruce and Clay Matthews as the third brother combination to receiver All-America recognition.

Receiver Marqise Lee and linebacker Dion Bailey were selected to Yahoo! Sports Freshman All-America team.

— Gary Klein

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Miami running back Lamar Miller, who rushed for 1,272 yards this year, is skipping his final two seasons of college eligibility and entering the NFL draft.

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Colorado State has called a news conference for Tuesday to introduce its new football coach amid reports that it’s Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain. McElwain would replace Steve Fairchild, who was fired last week by new Athletic Director Jack Graham after going 16-33 in four seasons with the Rams.

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The Mountain West Conference will ask for an automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series for the 2012 and ’13 seasons. The BCS rules allow a league without automatic qualifying status to request an exemption for the next two seasons if its teams met certain performance standards from 2008 to 2011.

Etc.

San Diego State will join the Big West Conference in 14 sports, including basketball, starting in the 2013-14 academic year. The announcement came five days after the school announced its football team was moving from the Mountain West to the Big East beginning with the 2013 season.

School officials said their teams will gain TV exposure and decrease travel by competing in the Big West, which includes Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. The Big West has TV contracts with ESPN and Fox Sports.

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Suspended Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates apologized to everyone, from his family to his entire hometown, for throwing punches that left much more than just a bloody gash below the eye of a Xavier player.

Then, he wept.

The Bearcats made their four suspended players attend a news conference and apologize for their part in a brawl that ended eighth-ranked Xavier’s 76-53 victory on Saturday and brought the city a lot of bad national publicity.

No one was shown in the replays more than Gates, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound player who flattened Xavier’s Kenny Frease with a blindside punch. Frease got a cut below the left eye and fell to the court, where he was kicked by another Cincinnati player.

“I’m just not that type of person,” Gates said, his eyes tearing. “A lot of people have been calling me a thug, a gangster …”

Gates then lowered his head and wiped away tears before covering his eyes with his black and red warmup shirt and crying.

Meanwhile, an Ohio prosecutor said he would consider criminal charges in the aftermath of the brawl. Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said in a statement that his office would determine whether any criminal charges were appropriate. He declined to further comment.

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The Ducks acquired defenseman Mark Fraser, center Rob Pelley and a seventh-round pick in the 2012 draft from the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Kurtis Foster and goaltender Timo Pielmeier.

Foster, 30, had a goal and an assist in nine games with the Ducks. He also played in two games with Syracuse of the AHL. Now in his seventh NHL season, the 6-5, 225-pound defenseman has career totals of 38 goals and 105 assists.

Pielmeier, 22, appeared in ten games this season with Elmira of the ECHL.

Fraser has appeared in four games, while Pelley saw action in seven contests.

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Vitali Klitschko will defend his WBC heavyweight title against Britain’s Dereck Chisora before turning his attention to a possible last bout against David Haye. Klitschko’s management group announced that the 40-year-old Ukrainian will fight Chisora in Munich’s Olympic Hall on Feb. 18.